0

Barnes & Noble has developed NOOKstudy, a free (as in beer) software suite that could make the average college student’s life a little easier. The software, which will be available for the PC and Mac, gives students the ability to download and organize electronic textbooks, as well as keep all of their notes, syllabuses, and so on in one safe place. Handy. And no, you don’t need a nook to use NOOKstudy.

Some of the details seem promising. Students can read multiple textbooks (or other sources) simultaneously, and they’re able to highlight and take notes from right within the software. Even more importantly, any notes or highlights you make are completely searchable. So, if you’ve highlighted an important paragraph on page 12 of chapter 4 in SomeBook, well, you can easily pull it up long after you’ve turned off your computer.

In an ideal world, you’d be able to have all of your textbooks on your laptop, as well as any notes or assignments or whatever that otherwise would be scattered all over your Desktop. The less textbooks you have to carry the less of a chance you have of your back giving out as you walk to class.

This, of course, fully depends on whether or not your textbooks are available in electronic format. Your mileage may vary, but Barnes & Noble will have good selection, and often at discount. Can’t go wrong there.

NOOKstudy has been on trial for a little while now at several school around the country, and the final product is the result of input from students and professors alike.

All in all, doesn’t seem too bad at all, at least from the outside looking in—maybe the name could have used some more work. Presumably we’ll give it a through look-see as its release approaches.